1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of telecommunications, and in particular, to systems and methods that test a communication network with a shared test port.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Testing a communication network for monitoring, maintenance, and trouble shooting is an essential operation to ensure that the communication network is running optimally with minimal problems. In some examples, network operators use specialized test equipment to conduct bit error rate (BER) testing or analyze signals in the communication network. Minimizing the cost of these specialized test equipment reduces the overall costs of operating the communication network.
FIG. 1 depicts an illustration of a communication network 100 in the prior art. FIG. 1 depicts a prior solution for testing the communication network 100 using test analyzers 130 and 140, a broadband digital cross-connect system (DCS) 120, and a BER test system 150. The test analyzers 130 and 140 perform fine granular testing for single sessions using Optical Carrier (OC)-12 and OC-3 test signals through the test port 122 and 124, respectively. One example of these test analyzers 130 and 140 is the OmniBER from Agilent Technologies. The BER test system 150 is a rack system that includes a central processing unit 152, a clock 154, and plug-in cards for transmitters 156 and 162 and receivers 158 and 164. The transmitters 156 and 162 transmit BER test signals to the test ports 126 and 128 in the broadband DCS 120, respectively. The BER test signals then propagate through the OC-48/STM-16 transmission system 110 and 130. The receivers 158 and 164 then receive the BER test signals from the test port 126 and 128, respectively. The BER test system 150 then performs BER testing. The test sets are remotely controlled from a network operations center (NOC) as is the DCS test port 122, 124, 126, and 128 and the internal cross-connection of the individual channels (e.g. STS-n).
The test ports in the broadband DCS 120 are rate specific and are each connected to a single dedicated test head having transmit and receive capability. Each test port in the broadband DCS 120 supports only one specific test as shown in FIG. 1. One problem with this prior system is the testing consumes a number of test ports in the broadband DCS 120. Also, another problem is separate test equipment is required for each test. Unfortunately, these problems increase costs of testing a communication network. Another problem is the test signal in this prior system does not provide a realistic mixture of test signals. A network operator may not drill down and conduct independent tests on STS-n signals contained in the test port. In one example, a DS3 mapping is only available as an OC-48 (DS-3) meaning all 48 STS-1s map a DS3 into the payload envelope. The user can not declare an STS-3c within the same OC-48 along with the DS3's. In one example, a technician may not be able to turn-up a DS3 and two STS-3cs because full multitasking is not available through one test port.